Wattled Curassow

WATTLED CURASSOW

Piurí /Crax globulosa

It is a critically Amazonian endangered bird. As a reference, in the last 40 years, this specie has not has a register in the only protected area, which is the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. As this bird is family of the turkeys, its meat has demand in local people.

Due to low human population in the Yanayacu River and inaccessibility of its ten lakes, is that this bird has found a place to live without threats. Today, you can see in the treetops of the capirona capinuri, huimba, cumaceba, ceiba and other trees over 50 meters high (164 ft), within the area of ​​Muyuna Lodge.

The Wattled Curassow photo that is shown in this page, was taken with excitement after fourty years since nobody saw this bird in the wild. It was captured by the famous scientist and birds book writer Noam Shany, while visiting the Muyuna Lodge.

The Crax globulosa is one of the larger birds of the Amazon Rainforest. Piuris were so abundant in the islands of the Amazon that the flocks came to the crops to eat leaves and lived with peacocks and chickens. They were hunted easily, and prepared for special celebrations, but consumption grew more everyday with the increase of the population. "We never thought that this bird was going to disappear, especially not after having flocks hovering over the island. We had to make a campaign to rescue the few remaining with the help of Muyuna Lodge" said Mr. Jorge Pinchi, shaman of the community of San Juan de Yanayacu.

Wattled Curassow features:

It grows to the size of a turkey (90 cms or 36 inches).

It has black plumage and is characterized by the red crest that stands on its head distinguishing the female from the male.

The adults are long-living.

The females have difficulty reproducing and produce only one egg per year.

Remain long periods of time in trees, feeding on crickets and insects.

They whistle when spread their wings to fly.

The male and female are navy blue, but they have some differences: female's back is white and the male has in its head a kind of red crest. Usually the male is larger than the female.

All activities are carried out only in the morning.

When the female is incubating it does not move from the nest until it give birth. Then the couple go out to find food.

We still have time to discover that breathing fresh air is possible.
There are still colors that we haven´t seen before
We are observed and judged by inoffensive and magical beings
We need to reflect and give the earth the necessary importance.